In time they will give up and stop, you have done your complaints with the AG right? You will just have to continue to ignore the calls and they will stop.

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:evil: I have had to have my bank close my checking account because of route 66 funding be very careful because they use the name allied interstate. The bank cancelled my account and blocked them from taking more money they tried to tell me that on a 200.00 loan you pay back 780.00 They called my husband and threatened him with bodily harm. And called me at my work at the sheriff's office and did the same thing to me on a recorded line. Check the out in the better business bureau site.

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i just wanted to let anybody who has done business with rt 66 know not to do any business again with them they are crooks and need to be shut down and out of business. I wish I had a lawyer friend because I can't afford one to sue the hell out of them for their mistratment of their customers.

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So I posted on here about not being able to get them to leave me alone a few weeks ago. I got fed up and decided to turn their own game against them. I faxed my AG's office an additional letter begging for their help and that same evening I sat down and faxed Route 66 a total of 40 letters, the same letters I had faxed, e-mailed, and mailed before. I also e-mailed the same letters 100 times to their offices. I figured I would start annoying the crap out of them just like they were doing with me and I was determined to do it every single night that they continued to call me. The 40 letters were 4 pages each so they got a whopping 160 pages on their fax machine that night HA HA! Since then, they have not called again and it has been almost a week!

You want to stop them? Turn the tables and do to them what they are doing to you. They have left me alone since I bogged down their e-mail servers and fax machines! Enjoy!

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I have had a $200 loan with them for 3 weeks. They have only taken out $70 twice. Yesterday I got a call from the "guy with an accent". He said it was a courtesy call and asked if I would like to keep the loan or pay it off on my next payday (15th) I told him that I wanted to pay it off. He was polite but asked me several times if I was sure I didn't need the extra money for expenses, etc. I told him no and he said ok and thanked me for my business. I'm not sure what will happen on payday, but I'm crossing my fingers that they will only take out $270. Wish me luck!

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Good Luck! I hope that they allow you to pay it off. Isn't it funny how he tried to talk you into extending it. This company is ruthless.

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Thank god for Google!! I kind of got the idea that this was a scam when they called me 3 times in one
hour! Thank god i looked in to it, I just feel bad
everyone here wasn't as fortunate, just a reminder to us that there are always people out there trying to take our hard earned money. We're probably funding some terrorist group unwittingly.

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Well, I've just sent my letter to Rt. 66 demanding they mark my account paid in full, since it was a $200 loan and was "renewed" 3 or 4 times (prohibited in my state, in which they are not licensed anyway), at a "renewal fee" of $79. The way I see it, I have more than paid back the initial loan of $200, merely by paying the renewal fees they charged to perform the (prohibited) renewal, and then some.

We will see how they react.

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Their initial reaction is going to be that they only have to follow UK laws since that is where they are based and they are putting you under investigation for fraud. Just ignore them, they are stupid. They also like to make the famous threat. You will prevail in the end, you'll just have to put up with their ignorance for a minute. But knowing what you know now, you can handle it.

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Well, the e-mail apparently caught someone's attention (think the fact that I sent it 15 times to every e-mail I could find had something to do with it?). "Brian" called from their "investigations team" at my work this morning, was very polite, asked if I could talk or would like to call him back. I told him I would call him back, he told me what hours he would be in the office and asked that I call him back today. I told him I would. I fully plan on asking for a written validation of this debt be e-mailed to me, that they stop calling me at work, and if their validation doesn't match my calculations, fighting this tooth and nail. If their validation shows that I have indeed paid the principal plus the initial transaction fee (no rollovers allowed in MI), I will advise them of this and demand my account be marked paid in full. If they fight me on it, I will proceed with my complaint to the AG & will copy them in on it.

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I would still file a complaint with the AGs office, they need to know about this company. I think you are going to come out of this the winner!

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Well, I called "Brian" at Rt. 66 today at lunch time. Of course, "Brian" speaks English, but heavily accented, as with all Rt. 66 call center drones.

Here's how it went:

Brian: You owe for this loan, and you state in your e-mail that you paid over $300, but I don't see that. You have paid $177 on this loan, which was all extension fees, you have paid nothing on the principal balance of $200, all our recent attempts to debit your bank account have been returned unpaid, and now the account is closed, so our company has paid all these ACH fees.

me: I would like a written validation of my debt, please.

brian: validation?? what do you mean?

me: I want a written account of my balance due, including what I have paid, and your fees, so that I can see exactly what I owe. I would like that e-mailed to me.

brian: I will send that to you only if you make a payment agreement right now.

me: so you're saying I can't get a written list of what I owe?

brian: no - I cannot send you that unless you make a payment arrangment right now.

me: so what do I owe?

brian: if you pay the principal balance of $200, we will close this account.

me: but you said I have already paid $177, so I should be entitled to pay the balance between $200 and $177 and be done with this.

brian: no. no. that's not how this works. what about all the ACH fees the company has paid. we are not making any profit on your account at all by accepting the principal and not charging you for the ACH fees we paid.

me: so you're telling me I cannot get a written validation of what I owe?

brian: that's correct. you will not get that. not until you make a payment arrangment.

me: I see.

brian: so you want to make a payment arrangment?

me: no, I want that written validation of my debt to your company so that I can make an informed decision on what I owe.

brian: you will not get that.

me: not from anyone at your company?

brian: no. not until you make a payment arrangement. we made many arrangements with you, and never received any money, and we still paid the ACH fees. Your bank statement will tell you how much you owe.

me: uh, no it won't. My bank statement will tell me how much I've paid - not how much I owe. That's why I need the statement from you, which you're refusing to give me, right?

Brian: right.

me: all right, let me consider all this. In the meantime, I want the calls to my workplace to stop. I want your company to stop calling me at work. You have my home number, you can call me there.

brian: I can't stop that.

me: oh yes you can. according to state law, when I inform you that I do not want you to call me at work, you have to stop.

brian: what about the law that says you take out a $200 loan and don't repay it? don't you have to abide by a law that says you have to pay your bills? what about all the ACH fees the company has paid? If you pay the $200 principal, we will close this account.

me: well, I will have to take all this into consideration, I will call you back.

brian: ok, thank you.

During all this, I have to say, Brian was very polite and never became angry or abusive, as I've seen others describe on here as regards calls from this company.

So should I cut my losses here, pay what they're asking for, and be done with it? I thought I had paid them more than the original loan principal already - they say I haven't, so I need to go back over my bank statements and see if that's the case or not. If, in fact, I have only paid them the $177 they claim, am I within my rights to demand that they mark me paid in full if I pay them $23, which is the difference between the loan principal and what they say I've paid?

My basis for all this is that PDL extensions or rollovers are illegal in MI, unless no fee is charged. They did do extensions, for a $59 fee. I am not disputing the fact that I owe a debt - I am just furious over the way these companies operate and seem to keep popping up all over the place - they're breeding like rabbits, it seems.

So, opinions anyone? I'm thinking of going to my AG to file a complaint and giving them the whole situation, before I send a dime to these people. I feel that the fact that they kept trying to debit my account month after month, and, by "Brian's" own admission, they kept trying after it was closed - is an admission of guilt on their part. I gave them permission for only a couple of those debits - so who gave them permission to keep trying, even after the account was closed? So whose fault is it that they racked up these so-called "ACH Fees"? Again - I am not trying to escape my debt - I only want it to be fairly executed. And I feel that by refusing to provide me a written verification of my debt, and by refusing to stop calling me at work when I requested them to stop, and by extending a PDL and charging a fee to do so, and executing a "contract" over the phone, nothing in writing, they are in violation of so many laws, it's pathetic.

Sorry for rambling - opinions needed on my next move, please.

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I'm at the same place with route 66 as you are . . . . They won't provide me with a written statement either. I'm pretty much to the point of just ignoring these idiots. I've paid them more than I should've, and since they don't play by any countires laws, I don't see why we should! I don't care what they offer me at this point, unless it's paid in full, I will not give them another cent.

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Well I have to say that these idiots have not called me again ever since I sent them 100 e-mails and 40 faxes in one night. Good riddance! My state attorney general has it all now and I will let them do whatever they want.

For the people that are being told that they still have to pay the $200 principal balance, you need to check out your state laws. I'm in OK and state law says only 1 payday loan at a time, they have to be licensed here, has s specific amount on interest (flat fees-$15 for first 300, $10 for amounts higher than that, maximum of 500), they allow no renewals at all. I used this information to determine what I owed them. All in all I paid them $7.00 more than I owed them (just in the $79 renewal fees) and that is what I fought with. They made $7 off of me but I can live with that. Bombard them with your letters, run their fax machines out of paper and ink, clog their e-mail in boxes, do everything you can to harass them just like they are harassing you. STAND YOUR GROUND!

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i have pid them 1770.00 on a $200 loan,this is just the begginning of my fight with them so please wish me luck

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Another day...no phone call so far, either to home or work. We'll see if "Brian" (who has such heavily accented English that his name cannot possibly be Brian) calls back.

On another topic - I read an article in a magazine regarding the fact that so many American companies are outsourcing their call centers to India, etc. because the labor costs are cheaper there. Personally, my phone and cable companies both do this, and it's frustrating. My cable company doesn't seem to care about anyone's complaints, but the phone company told me they are keeping track of how many complaints they get about this practice, and will quite likely discontinue it soon. They know their customers aren't happy with it. The article I read stated the percentages of American companies outsourcing their call centers, I can't remember the number, but it was pretty high. It also had a sidebar showing an interview with a call center employee from India - she said quite often, call center employes are instructed to give false names - names that are more "American" - like Bob, Tom, William, Sherry, Barbara - to "make callers more comfortable", and that most of the call center employees deal with abuse from American callers on a daily basis because the callers are upset that they are speaking to someone from another country. (ya think??) The employee being interviewed said she had been yelled at, cursed at, and hung up on - and that she was bewildered by that - she was just trying to do her job.

Just another take on the call center situation with companies like Rt. 66 - they keep saying they are located in the UK, but most of their callers sound very much like they are located in India or a similar country.

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